“I don’t think it could look any worse. Do you?” I asked as I headed down the hall.
“Guess not.” She followed me. “Just tell me what you need me to do.”
“Since the bathroom is small, we’re gonna go on and paint all of it,” I told her as I laid out a tarp on the floor. I opened the can of paint and handed her a brush as I said, “You start on that wall while I finish patching this hole.”
“Is there a right way to do this?” she asked.
“Nope. Just go up and down with the brush until you cover the entire wall. That’s about it.”
She did a few strokes and then said, “This is so cool. Thanks for letting me help.”
“Doing good. I knew you’d make a good assistant.”
We hadn’t been working long when David stuck his head in and said, “Hey. What’s going on?”
“I’m helping Clutch paint. Doesn’t it look good?” she asked proudly.
“Looks a lot better already. You need any help?”
“We got it,” she insisted.
David ignored her and grabbed one of the extra brushes and started painting the spots that his sister couldn’t reach. In just over an hour, the hole was patched and we’d finished painting the entire bathroom. The kids helped me clean up the mess, and I was long gone before Hazel got home from work. I was exhausted. My body ached everywhere and my head was pounding, so I skipped dinner and made myself comfortable on the sofa. I didn’t even bother turning on the TV, choosing instead to listen to the comforting sounds of Hazel and the happy kids talking next door as I fell asleep.
“It looks great. I can’t believe you helped him do all this,” I told them as I stared at my new bathroom. With the fresh paint and fixtures, it didn’t even look like the same room.
“I think Mom would have really liked it,” Hadley whispered.
“Yeah, I think she would’ve been really impressed with all of your hard work,” I agreed as I gave her a quick hug.
She looked up at me and asked, “Can we get a new shower curtain to match the new wall color?”
“That’s a great idea. Maybe we can go look for one when you get out of school. I’m only working one shift tomorrow, so I’ll be off early.”
“Can we get some more cereal, too?” Charlie asked. “Hadley ate all the marshmallows out of the one I liked. Now all we have is the one with oats and raisins and it sucks.”
“I did not eat all the marshmallows!”
“Yeah, you did. You always do. There’s nothing but dry cereal left and it’s gross,” Charlie complained.
“We’ll get some more cereal. It’s not the end of the world. We need to get some other groceries while we are out.”
“We need to get the stuff to make Clutch’s cake, too,” Hadley reminded me. “Do you remember how to make it?”
“I think we can figure it out,” I assured her. “I’ll get us a list started, and as soon as I get off work, we’ll go do some shopping. For now, I’m going to make us something for dinner. Have you both finished all of your homework?”
“All done,” Hadley said proudly.
Charlie grumbled something under his breath, and then said, “I’ve got to finish up another paper for Mrs. Cole. She’s such a pain. I don’t think that woman likes anything. She’s always giving everybody bad grades, and this paper we have to write is just stupid.”
“Maybe I could help you with it,” I offered. “What’s it about?”
“I don’t even know. Something about The Scarlet Letter. The book was okay, but she wants us to write from the woman’s perspective or something stupid like that. I’m not some chick, so how am I supposed to write about her stinking perspective?”
“Yeah, I can definitely help with that one. I read that book in high school, too. You’ll have to remind me of a few things, but I’m sure we can get it done. Let me fix something for us to eat, and then we’ll knock it out.”
“Cool. You want some help with dinner?”
“I’ve got it. I’m going to warm up some stew and make some grilled cheese sandwiches.”
He started walking towards his bedroom and shouted, “I want two! I’m starving.”
“You’re always starving,” I shouted back with a snicker.
After dinner, Charlie and I spent a couple of hours working on his paper, and by the time we were finished, I think it turned out